Special Security Advisor to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs K Vijay Kumar on Friday warned that any instance of misusing the provisions of surrender policy in any way should be looked into properly.
Kumar while talking to mediapersons at Tiril Ashram camp of CRPF here also added that surrender of Naxals should always be genuine and of good quality. “I am here to assess the overall coordination between the State police and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and observed that utmost thrust is being given on the security and development in the Naxal-infested areas of Jharkhand,” said Kumar.
“I can see a good equation between CRPF and State police who have been conducting anti-Naxal operations in an efficient and effective way,” added Kumar.
Kumar, along with four other senior officers — Special DG (CRPF) K Durga Prasad, Major General (Rtd) Dalbir Singh, Major General (Rtd) VK Dutta, and DIG (Operations) PS Rajoura, appointed by the MHA — was on a two-day visit to Jharkhand to review and prepare a report to improve the efficiency of CRPF in tackling the left Wing Extremism (lWE) issues.
The security advisor, after visiting the CRPF camps in the State, also sought suggestions from the officials what more needs to be done for them to get maximum output from them.
“Operations against the Naxal outfits are being carried out very steadily in the State jointly by the CRPF and the State police with mutual coordination which is really commendable,” said Kumar. “I have also come here to encourage them and give them a pat on their back,” he added.
Referring to the outbreak of several splinter groups in Jharkhand, Kumar accepted that there were maximum splinter groups in the State as compared to other Naxal-hit States. “Any group of people involved in the activities like extortion and extremism must be dealt with steadily,” added Kumar.
During an interactive session with the CRPF commandants posted in the Naxal-hit areas, he heard their problems and also invited suggestions from them to make the atmosphere more congenial in order to get better results on the ground. A presentation regarding the ongoing anti-Naxal drive in the State was also shown to the visiting committee which was appreciated by all of them.
After watching the presentation, according to senior CRPF official, the committee members observed that though a commendable work was being done by the CRPF in the State, it lacked projection which could be improved only by media interaction so that a positive message is propagated among the common people.
According to the CRPF official, Kumar seemed to be satisfied with the ongoing anti-Naxal operations in the State and directed the officials to focus on the Maoist organisations first following which the impact of splinter groups will automatically get diluted. “The National Security Advisor also stressed on carrying out maximum confidence building measures among the villagers in the Naxal-infested areas and also observed that their influence has remarkable gone down by 75 per cent which is a good sign for the State,” said the official requesting anonymity.
Medals were also distributed among the 19 CRPF personnel and officials, including two dogs — Afreen and Rudolf, who contributed a lot during the last 2-3 encounters with the Naxal outfits. The two dogs had done commendable jobs during the encounter which took place with the Maoists on Saturday.
Five CPI (Maoists) also were arrested from Balumath block of latehar after the encounter which took place while the security forces were intercepted by the Maoists while conducting long Range Patrolling in the area. The list also includes the names of - Commandant Kamlesh Singh, Commandant Manoj Kumar, ASP (Ops) Manish Bharti, and Asst Commandant Mithlesh Kumar, Asst Commandant Upendra Pratap Singh, SI lakhan lal Meena, SI Vijay Singh, SI Bhawani Singh Meena, Head Const Manik Masahray, Constable Sugreevan Kumar Singh, Constable Sarafdar Constable Kadam Pankaj K, Constable VD Kamlakar, Contable Mukesh Kumar Gujjar, Head Contable R Pandi Kumar Contable (Dog Handler) Rajesh Kumar and Constable (Dog Handler) JP Gupta.
later, Kumar also held a meeting with DGP DK Pandey and other senior Police officials of the state police and had a long discussion to improve coordination between the state police and CRPF for an effective and efficient anti-Naxal drive in the State.